10m FT8 for the day

At about 0805z, the 10m FT8 gear was turned on. Still using 2.5W to the indoor magnetic loop. This is positioned on a PVC pipe taped to a small table in the shack. This is now a much greater distance from the window.

So far, no RX spots, but M0HOJ (14km) has spotted my 2.5W on TX. This should be my poorest direction i.e. orthogonal to the loop.

UPDATE 0830z:  Now 3 spots so far this morning (all local) of my 2.5W 10m FT8 TX. Reports are better than yesterday, in line with loop orientation, which is encouraging.

UPDATE 1140z:  47 stations spotted on 10m FT8 RX and 9 stations have spotted me with my 2.5W on TX. So far 1 QSO with a Spanish station. The indoor loop antenna certainly works!

UPDATE 1341z:QSOs today on 10m FT8 with Norway and Spain so far.

UPDATE 1735z : 12 spots of me so far and 141 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX.  All Europeans.

UPDATE 2100z:  QRT. The photo shows the stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX.

Sunspots - Sunday April 26th 2020

Solar flux is 69 and the SSN 11. A=5 and K=2. Sunspots return.

Our walk earlier - NOT amateur radio

Before lunch we did a nice walk. We went around the village as the collage shows. In all, we walked about 3.5 miles.

Chicks - NOT amateur radio

Recently one of our grandchildren who keeps chickens had some chicks born.  He actually witnessed one coming out of the egg! The photo shows him holding one.

10m FT8

In a few moments we are going for a walk, so TX will be disabled. So far (turned things on about 15 minutes ago at around 0805z) my 2.5W to the indoor loop (see earlier post today) has been spotted just by 1 local G4WSZ (12km).

UPDATE 1152z:  When we came back from our walk the TX was turned on. 9 spots of me so far today with 6 from Spain. Es.

UPDATE 1450z:  23 spots of my 2.5W so far today.

UPDATE 2029z: 261 stations spotted today on 10m FT8 RX including 4 South Americans. 45 stations spotted my 2.5W to the indoor loop, all Europeans. One QSO with a station in Denmark.  Now QRT.

The new normal? - NOT amateur radio

Like many, our grandchildren are now enjoying schooling on the PC. This was one of our grandchildren yesterday.

Sunspot minimum?

The recent solar data has been disappointing. We have seen solar flux below 70 now for several days. We could be only now reaching solar minimum. With luck things could be better soon, but it looks like earlier predictions may have been optimistic.

Sunspots - Saturday April 25th 2020

Solar flux is 71 and the SSN 0. A=8 and K=3.

10m loop improvements

Yesterday, I modified my 10m loop to make it easier to tune. The measured capacitance at resonance was just under 40pF. I replaced the 365pF variable with a fixed 27pF in series with a fixed 27pF capacitor in series with a 5-65pF trimmer. Tuning is now much less difficult and the SWR on-tune very good. A quick test was spotted by 3 locals.

Cambridge Club (CDARC) Zoom meeting

As the Cambridge club cannot meet as usual every 2 weeks, it is meeting virtually instead. The last sessions were on the local repeater GB3PI with the prior approval of the repeater group. Tonight there is a talk with slides by Gavin M1BXF which is on Zoom.

UPDATE 2152z: It was excellent.